German metal band the Ocean were robbed to the tune of €6000 last week while on tour in Spain.

The band are currently supporting Dillinger Escape Plan on their European tour and will switch to the support slot on Anathema's tour next month.

The band wrote in a statement: "Two guys in a black BMW pulled us over with fake police IDs. They asked for our van papers and IDs and wanted to know if we had any money to declare. We were not skeptical at this point, as it is normal in Europe that you have to declare larger amounts of money when you're crossing borders, so we told them we had merch money with us, and the guy wanted to see it.

"When we showed them the merch wallet, the guy reached through the open window, seized it and ran back to the BMW in front of us, where his colleague was waiting with the engine running. Unfortunately our van and trailer don't match the speed of a BMW, but fortunately it's not allowed to carry guns in Europe, as otherwise we would be in jail now for shooting the guy in the face.

"We are facing a loss of + 6000 euro of merch income of the last days and fees. The exact amount is still to be determined. As some of you may or may not know, conditions on support tours are usually grim. Fees are low and barely cover expenses for van, gas, highway tolls, ferries etc. There is no accommodation arrangements, we've been crashing out on people's floors for weeks. Losing more than 6000 euro is something we simply cannot afford at this point.

"We are asking everyone who is planning to order Anthropocentric in the next few weeks through our shop to help out. You can do so by donating 5 Euro when you place your order. All income generated through this will make the loss smaller for us.

Everyone who donates 5 Euro will receive a copy of the police report and a Thank You card signed by all band members. We would like to thank you in advance for your support!"

This sucks, but I've heard of robberies like this in Europe before. I saw thieves in Italy do some crazy stuff to trick people. You've just gotta be extra careful.
Still really sucks though. Maybe I'll donate.

But The Ocean have never played post-metal... They were never the band that used layering and build-ups, they have always just been balls out aggresion (although at times, a bit more atmospheric than others). Not to mention they don't play metal anymore, but rather some kind of prog metal/post-hardcore hybrid.

This really sucks, been following them on FB recently and many of their updates have been along the lines of
"looking for somewhere to stay in ____ can anyone help us out?"
So it's not like they had money to burn. It's worth buying their stuff anyway, their packaging is usually pretty awesome.